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OPA1, a mitochondrial pro-fusion protein, regulates the cristae remodelling pathway during apoptosis
No full textMitochondria are essential organelles for the life of the cells since it is the major source of ATP, key molecule for many endoergonic reaction.
Recently it has been demonstrated that mitochondrial play a key role in many other cellular processes like Ca2+ signaling and programmed cell death.
Following an apoptotic insult mitochondria release cytochrome c and other proteins required in the cytosol for the activation of the effector caspases required for cell demise.
What is remarkable about cytochrome c release is that is fast, complete and usually is not associated with mitochondrial swelling. Thanks to the advances in 3D electron microscopy it has been demonstrated that cristae are not just invagination of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) as previously depicted by Palade (Palade, 1952) but rather distinct compartments of it, separated from the inter membrane space (IMS) by tubular narrow cristae junctions. The majority of cytochrome c and the other respiratory chain components are restricted in this compartment. To reach a complete cytochrome c release in the absence of mitochondrial swelling mitochondria remodel their internal structure: individual cristae fuse and tubular narrow cristae junctions widen; this process, defined cristae remodeling is associated with the mobilization of cytochrome c towards the IMS for its subsequent release across the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) (Scorrano et al., 2002). The molecular mechanism beyond this dynamic process is not well understood and in the laboratory where I did my doctoral Thesis it has been hypothesized that OPA1, the only dynamin related protein of the IMM (Alexander et al., 2000; Delettre et al., 2000) could control cristae remodeling. Dynamin related proteins are regulators of mitochondrial morphology promoting mitochondrial fusion and fission. To this family belong Mitofusins (MFN) 1 and 2 in the OMM and OPA1 that resides in the IMM. OPA1 is a large GTPase anchored in the IMM, facing the IMS (Olichon et al., 2002; Satoh et al., 2003); it has been shown that in yeast, its orhologue Mgm1p is required for fusion competent mitochondria by the cooperation with a protein of the same family on the OMM called Fzo1p. In our laboratory it has been demonstrated that in mammalian cells OPA1 promotes mitochondrial fusion through one of the two mammaliam orthologue of Fzo1p called MFN1.
In 2000 two distinct laboratories demonstrated that mutations in OPA1 gene are the cause of dominant optic atrophy (ADOA), the leading case of inherited blindness in human, characterized by selective death of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) (Alexander et al., 2000; Delettre et al., 2000). The fact the mutation in a mitochondrial protein involved in mitochondrial morphology caused cell death opened a new scenario that corroborates the central position of mitochondria in regulating apoptotic signaling.
The aim of my thesis was to analyze the role of OPA1 in mitochondria-dependent apoptosis.
We started with a brute force approach by overexpressing OPA1 in murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and measuring cells viability in response to intrinsic apoptotic stimuli that specifically trigger apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway.
Overexpression of wt OPA1 but not of mutant in the GTPase domain (OPA1K301A) or a truncated mutant in the coiled coil domain (OPAR905*) is able to prevent from apoptosis induced by hydrogen peroxide, staurosporine, etoposide and overexpression of tBID, a BH3 only protein of the Bcl-2 family that promotes cristae remodeling. To confirm that OPA1 antiapoptotic activity was exerted at the mitochondrial level we analyzed two aspects of the mitochondrial dysfunction: cytochrome c release and mitochondrial depolarization.
To this aim we overexpressed a mitochondrially targeted red fluorescent protein (mtRFP) as marker of the mitochondrial network and then we immunodecorated cytochrome c with a FITC-conjugated secondary antibody. OPA1 overexpression prevented cytochrome c release in response to intrinsic stimuli while its inactive mutant OPAK301A aggravated cytochrome c release kinetic.
We then analyzed another aspect of the mitochondrial dysfunction: mitochondrial depolarization, taking advantage of the potentiometric probe tetramethylrhodamine-methyl ester (TMRM) which mitochondrial fluorescence is proportional to mitochondrial potential. Overexpression of OPA1, but not of its inactive K301A mutant, prevented mitochondrial depolarization induced by intrinsic stimuli, confirming that OPA may prevent from apoptosis at the mitochondrial level by reducing cytochrome c release and mitochondrial depolarization. How can a dynamin related protein prevent from apoptosis? We asked this because when our study was ongoing an intriguing hypotesys emerged: during apoptosis mitochondrial network undergoes irreversible massive fragmentation; this event and apoptotic cristae remodeling are required for complete cytochrome c release. In principle, OPA1 could prevent apoptosis at both of these levels either counteracting mitochondrial fragmentation thanks to its pro-fusion activity or by the regulation of cristae remodeling. To understand at which of these levels OPA1 was exerting its antiapototic activity, we started a genetic approach, overexpressing OPA1 in Mfn1-/-, where OPA1 pro-fusion activity was prejudiced.
Overexpression of OPA1 in these cells prevented from apoptosis induced by intrinsic stimuli; in view of the fact that a residual pro-fusion activity of OPA1 could be mediated by the presence of MFN2 we repeated the same experiments in cells in which both mitofusins were ablated (DMF). Also in this conditions OPA1 prevented from apoptosis at the mitochondrial level, slowing down cytochrome c release kinetic. OPA1 has an antiapoptotica function that is independent of its pro-fusion activity on the mitochondrial network.
At this point we asked whether OPA1 may have a role on apoptotic cristae remodeling. We generated stable cell lines that stably overexpressed OPA1 and its K301A mutant both in wt and in Mfn1-/- cells and a cell line depleted of OPA1 by short hairpin RNA interference (shOPA1RNAi). We then isolated mitochondria and measured cytochrome c release induced by recombinant caspase 8 cleaved BID (cBID) using a specific ELISA immunoassay. Stable overexpression of OPA1 is able to prevent cytochrome c relase independently of MFN1 while its downregulation dramatically increases its release. Using a specific assay we observed that OPA1 is also able to prevent cytochrome c mobilization from the cristae independently of MFN. These results were confirmed by the fact that overexpression of the OPA1K301A mutant increased cytochrome c mobilization that was almost complete when OPA1 levels were depleted by RNAi. A thorough morphometric analysis of isolated mitochondria from these cell lines, associated with 3D reconstruction of electron microscopy tomography, showed that OPA1 controls cristae morphology and prevents cristae junction widening in response to cBID. To better understand the molecular mechanism through which OPA1 controls cristae remodeling and cristae junctions diameter we based our hypothesis on the possible analogy with vesciculation processes regulated by cytosolic dynamin, where GTPase activity of it mediated mechanoenzimatic constriction of the vesicle collar. Despite this analogy, we should mention that OPA1, unlike dynamin, is located on the inner side of the membrane to be constricted and not on the outside as dynamin complicating the model. First, we analyzed biochemical characteristic of OPA1: gel filtration studies showed that OPA1 is eluted at very high molecular weight fractions (>600 KDa) and in response to cBID incubation it is retrieved in low molecular weight fractions. Parallel studies in our laboratory demonstrated that OPA1 is processed by a rhomboid protease, PARL, into a short form found soluble in the IMS that is responsible for the antiapototic but not of the pro-fusion activity of OPA1. We therefore reasoned that OPA1 could organize into high molecular weight complexes made up at least by the PARL generated soluble form and the membrane bound form of OPA1. To confirm this hypothesis we crosslinked this complex and confirmed the presence of a high molecular weight immunoreactive band for OPA1 that disappear following the mechanical expansion of the cristae induced by osmotic swelling. These crosslinker-stabilized oligomers contain both the soluble and the membrane bound forms of OPA1 as demonstrated by their immunoreactivity for properly tagged and co-expressed forms.
The OPA1-containing oligomers is targeted by cBID in a time dependent manner and OPA1 overexpression stabilizes these complexes. We can conclude that OPA1 controls cytochrome c mobilization and cristae remodeling that occurs during apoptosis. This function of OPA1 is independent of MFNs and is correlated to the formation of high molecular weight complexes.
The data collected so far on OPA1 antiapoptotic function open a new scenario. First we need to investigate on the molecular composition of these complexes in normal and apoptotic conditions. To this aim we started a biochemical study on OPA1-containing complexes in mitochondria isolated from different genetic background in normal and apoptotic conditions. The proteomic analysis of the proteins eventually found in complex with OPA1 will allow us to comprehend the function and regulation of OPA1 oligomers before and after cell death induction.
OPA1 appears as a crucial protein in the apoptotic process; as a confirmation of this, it has been found that OPA1 is highly overexpressed in some lung cancer (Dean Fennel, personal communication); we then asked whether OPA1 could be a target for the development of new drugs that enhance apoptosis in tumor cells. To this aim, we started a collaboration with Stefano Moro from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry of the University of Padova, to generate a library of candidate inhibitors of OPA1 performing a virtual screening of compounds targeted to the GTPase pocket of OPA1 obtained following an homology modeling on the Dyctiostelium Discoideum GTPase domain of Dynamin A.
In conclusion, the data presented in this doctoral thesis show that mitochondrial protein OPA1 participates in the regulation of cytochrome c mobilization and cristae remodeling during apoptosis. We demonstrated that OPA1 organizes into high molecular weight complexes which disruption correlates with cristae junction widening. This function is distinct from its role in mitochondrial morphology and this suggest a bifurcation and specialization of OPA1 function during evolution
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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